Plans to reduce the spiralling NHS deficit in Devon could mean job losses of up to 2,500 staff, a council committee has heard.

Health chiefs are currently implementing a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) against the backdrop of a £500million black hole in finances.

A move towards treating more patients at home and preventative health care has already seen controversial closures of community hospitals and ward beds.

The Northern, Eastern and Western (NEW) Devon Clinical Commissioning Grop (CCG was asked by Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny to reveal how many redundancies would be needed to address the.

Dr Sonja Manton, joint director of strategy at the trust, refused to name a figure though she did concede that staffing accounted for 75 per cent of the budget.

Councillor Richard Scott suggested that, based on his own estimated calculations using a figure of £117m annually, around 2,500 jobs could be lost by 2020.

Dr Manton said a strategic plan was currently being developed with cuts to back office and corporate staffing but did not object to the figure.

“You are right if you did that maths,” she added.

Later, a spokesman for the NHS in Devon said it was "categorically not reducing staff by 2,500 to save £500 million".

“As Dr Manton told the meeting, the savings figure this year for the NHS across Devon is £169 million (from an overall budget of £1.5 billion) and not £500 million, and that the bulk of this will be by not using expensive agencies, not filling vacancies in corporate posts when people leave, streamlining management and administration functions and getting better value, for example, from prescribing and procurement budgets," the spokesman added.

“The new community-based care model is already delivering savings and better care to patients and will continue to do so in the years ahead.

“Improvements in the management of patients to ensure that they accessing the right services, first time, are also producing savings.

“Councillor Scott made the assumption that three quarters of this year’s savings would come from staff redundancies – but as Dr Manton explained, his calculation does not reflect how savings are being made.

“In Devon’s seven NHS organisations, frontline compulsory redundancies this year have been in single figures and there are no plans that would increase this number significantly.

“Such headlines are hugely damaging to the morale of hard-working dedicated staff and can cause patients unnecessary alarm.”

Councillors were frustrated at the lack of detail presented at the meeting on County Hall at the meeting, Thursday, September 21.

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“We are assessing buildings at the moment – I am happy to go into [the detail] in the future. Have I got it here in front of me? No, but I am happy to pick it up at some point in the future when it’s available.”

Labour councillor Hilary Ackland said the STP was likely to get “messy” with the involvement of unions.

“I want to be assured that we are going to get below the surface of things like the detail of integrated care,” she added.

Liberal Democrat Brian Greenslade, a former county council leader, said he did not “envy” NHS managers implementing the plan.

Ms Wright proposed a motion that "significant concerns" existed over the "transparency" of the STP and that urgent clarification of staffing, nursing and buildings plans were required.

Cllr Philip Sanders,a former NHS worker, said there was no evidence of information being "deliberately withheld", only information that was not "available".

The committee voted to amend the motion and instead resolved to set up a "standing group" to look at and address concerns.